Denis Leamy claims all signs point to a big Munster performance against Bordeaux

The big question will be whether there is enough left in the tank, mentally and physically, for Munster to deliver the type of performance necessary to unseat a Top 14 side on home soil which did not appear to need a top gear to see their way past Ulster on the same ground last Sunday

Munster Defence Coach Denis Leamy. File picture: Ben Brady/Inpho 

Bordeaux’s Stade Chaban-Delmas is much the same as it was when Denis Leamy was saving Irish blushes against Georgia at the 2007 World Cup but the regular tenants his Munster side are set to face in the Champions Cup quarter-finals on Saturday are an altogether tougher prospect than the supposed underdogs of 18 years ago.

Now his province’s defence coach, Leamy has a challenge every bit as dangerous in Bordeaux-Begles as the Georgian driving maul he held up late on to rescue a 14-10 pool victory for Ireland, though the return to the ageing but atmospheric stadium brought back less than palatable memories of a World Cup campaign that went badly wrong.